Oh Those Crazy Saturdays!!

Today thus far:
-Wake up from nightmare at 7:00am. Look out the window, see snow, go back to sleep.
-Wake up from another nightmare at 8:30am, remember the snow, go back to sleep.
-Wake up from third nightmare, decide waking life may have more to offer, get up.
-Eat gigantic veggie omelette. mmmm
-Walk to the McDonald's on the edge of town and drink a free coffee while reading Plato's Symposium. Yes, there is something a little disturbing about a puppet in the form of a pig reading Plato at McDonald's of all places...but they have free coffee! (We can't have integrity all the time.)
-Get distracted from book's dialogue on the meaning of love, by boisterous parents and their children going about their daily lives.
-Walk to the other side of town to buy long underwear at Zellers. (Oh Stanfields, me and my meagre piggy limbs love you!)
-Stop at the local library and read magazines. Lots of magazines. Apparently Montreal is corrupt, McGill is the #1 university in the universe, Canadians prefer animal rights over human rights, and Betty and Veronica are still fighting over Archie.
-Stalk people on facebook. Consider deleting my account for the millionth time to relieve some facebook induced anxiety...
-Update all of you on my exciting day!

Kisses darlings!
Mr. P
xx

The Meaning of Being Alone and That Pervy Tell-Tale Heart!

I'm developing a new sense of independence. I have always had it, but something has really clicked in the past few days. I have never considered myself to be a co-dependent puppet, (although I don't work the same without that arm stuck up my backside) but something is changing. This is my fifth day in Chibougamau and I feel like I have been here forever. It is amazing how wherever I happen to be becomes my home for a time. Why get too attached to a particular place? What purpose would that serve? I start thinking and planning and wondering where else in the world I can go now. All I need is myself and that arm that controls me. I should consider myself lucky that I'm a single pig because I don't have to worry about someone else's opinion in deciding my future, where I should go, what I should do. I have endless possibilities and there are so many adventures that await me. My only complaint is that sometimes moments don't seem as special when you have no one to share them with. That said, I'm extra grateful for my friends and the little notes that they have sent me since I came here.

So why have I come up north? I'm teaching an English class. On the first day of class, I had my students read The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe, aloud in class. I'm teaching adults, but there is no doubt that we can all be a little immature sometimes. One student was reading when she came to this passage: "Oh, you would have laughed to see how cunningly I thrust it in! I moved it slowly--very, very slowly, so that I might not disturb the old man's sleep..." (paragraph 3). The student couldn't stop laughing and then the class lost it as well. I will never look at that story the same way again! It certainly becomes less creepy when taken out of context.

A bientot my dears!
xx

Happiness is...a 12 Hour Ride to Chibougamau?

"Chibougamau?" you ask. Indeed. It's on the map if you happen to have one that includes smaller towns in mid to northern Quebec. I arrived yesterday. When I booked my bus ticket I was expecting 8-10 hours. I was wrong. My poor little bum hurts from the 12 hours I spent travelling. So, why am I happy? New adventures! And the last leg of my trip between St. Felicien and Chibougamau was amazing. It was late last night, and very dark outside. The bus was nearly empty and I could only see the black spikes of pine trees along the side of the road. The moon was a bright orange sliver of a crescent and it kept disappearing behind the trees. There are very few buildings along that stretch of highway so the only light was from the bus's headlights. As a result, the stars were bright and plentiful and a couple of them fell and lit up the sky. Eventually, after touching the horizon for most of the journey, the moon disappeared altogether. It was as though the bus had climbed beyond the realm of the moon. I know I'm getting sappy here, but those few moments of witnessing nature made me truly happy.

Stay tuned for more adventures in Chibougamau! So far the people seem to be extremely nice and the weather is much colder than Montreal.

a bientot darlings!
xx